Tea's eyes refused to leave the crystal she held in her hand. The sailor unleashed a devastating attack, getting rid of the crocodile and Naomi ridding the party of the pigeon. Now all that was left was the crocodile. Upon Michelle ordering for an all out attack on the creature, her eyes widened. Another weapon, longer than a dagger but shorter than a sword, flew at the crocodile, hitting him in the stomach.

"It just isn't your day today is it? I'm sorry you've been assaulted, but thank you for the gift from earlier."

Marilyn shook her head for a moment. How could she not have noticed the bouncy summoner bashing away at the monsters with her book? It was an underestimation, a mistake assassins could not afford to make even once. Now, she would just have to hope it would not happen again. With a swift movement, she appeared next to the last remaining crocodile man and jabbed at it with her blade.

"Hey ye all! Tanks for the 'elp!" The sailor called. He was fixing up his electricity cannon right now, and he seemed to be motioning for them to come over. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I bel'eve." The sailor explained himself. Naomi and Astra both made their way over to the sailor, who was sitting on the pier now. The sailor finished up with his amazing weapon and gently plopped it down on the ground behind him. "Alrigh'," the sailor sighed, "I 'ave a feelin' ye all ar the ones who need a trip to Sar'tu, righ'?"

"That would be correct," said Astra. "Where is your captain, sailor?"

The color in the sailor's face drained suddenly, a look of desperation upon his face. He suddenly cried out in agony, banging his fist against the pier, startling Astra and Naomi. "Aye, he's been tak'n by those vile crocodiles! I coul'n save 'im in time! He tol' me to protect this 'ere ship!" The sailor said, then looked up and grasped Astra's legs desperately, "Ye gotta 'elp the Captain! Save 'im for me! I can' leave this ship unless I break orders!"

Astra sighed, prying herself from the sailor's grasp. "I guess we have no choice." She said, "We'll look for your captain." Astra turned towards the others, "Is everyone ready to set out again?"

"If we save the captain, we get to go on a boat?" Michelle murmured questioningly to herself, eyebrows furrowing. As the thought settled into her mind, her eyes widened and a rather dreamy look entered her eyes. A smile slowly crossed over her face and then she came back to reality with sparkles in her eyes.

"We'll do it!" she practically gushed, lunging in front of the sailor and grasping both his hands in hers. "You can totally count on us! We'll have him safe and sound and everything so get the boat ready, make sure there's nothing to impend our trip and we'll be right back with your captain and then we'll set sail into the SEA!" Michelle just about squealed the last part, hopping on her feet from the amount of energy in her body.

Releasing her rather tight grip on the sailor's hands, the archer hummed happily as she skipped and twirled. She was a little too excited about setting sail.

Beni woke groggily from where she lay on the swampy ground. That hadn't been fun, and now she was dirty. "Ow . . . that hurt a lot." She examined the cuts and bruises she had acquired, wincing when she touched the one on her side. "Hmm . . . oh yeah!" Her eyes lit up again with their usual cheer as she recalled the baby dragon, Ritoru. She'd have to wait to summon him again for a little while, so that wherever he was he would heal.

Benicia jumped to her feet, ignoring the mud streaking her legs, and gave a huge smile. "Did you guys see him? He was so cute! That mean bird hurt him a lot, but he was brave." She called to the others, chest swelling with pride. Her little dragon had been valiant to the end. Beni bounced next to Michelle. "So where're we going now?"

_________________

"We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one."

"Oh, hey Beni!" Michelle greeted cheerfully, snapping out of her daydream. It had been a good one but nothing beat talking to her new friends! "We're going to save the captain of the ship! And, once we do, we'll be able to go sailing!" She sighed happily. "Can you imagine it? Blue seas and skies with the occasional white cloud. A gentle breeze that carries along with it the scent of the waters. Oh, it's going to be great!"

She clapped her hands together, restraining another squeal.

"Come on, guys, let's hurry it up!" she suddenly shouted, spinning around to call the rest of the gang. Michelle raised an arm, waving them over. "The captain isn't going to save himself, you know!" Finished with that, she then turned back to Beni, eyes sparkling a bright sapphire blue. "Isn't it exciting? We're on an adventure!"

"Ooh! That's sounds like fun!" Suddenly enamored with excitement, Beni started bouncing up and down too, blinding smile cracking her face in two. Entirely unable to contain herself, she linked an arm with the archer and started skipping in a circle with her. "We're gonna go sailing, we're gonna go sailing!" She started shouting in a sing-song voice.

Last edited by Cerani Lieol on Sun Sep 26, 2010 5:17 pm; edited 1 time in total

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"We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one."

Marilyn smiled at the excited girls. Her blade was in its hiding place and she clasped her hands together in front of her, looking around with her beautiful eyes. "Oh, I most certainly hope this captain will be all right until we can rescue him," she spoke up in concern. She didn't know what the mindset of a crocodile man was like, but they bled. That's all she needed to know.

Tea mumbled, her eyes set on her crystal. She hadn't take her eyes off of it since she had begun the battle. She didn't see anything right now, but something told her the ride on the boat would have some sort of challenge. Moving towards her allies, her eyes refused to leave the crystal.

Astra nodded, looking over at Naomi now, who said nothing. With a sigh, Astra turned towards the battle sailor. "Okay, it looks like everyone is in agreement."

"Oh, bless ye souls!" The sailor said, "'Ere's what you need ter know: The Captain's name is Ahab, Captain Ahab. 'E was kidnapped by them nasty crocodile beasts along with the First Mate, Starbuck. I been protectin' the rest o' the crew in this 'ere ship. I be the last o' the battlin' sailors. There's a cove where all them crocodile beasts hide out. They ain't very smart, so ye might be able ta sneak in and sneak out without them noticin' ya."

Astra nodded, "Okay, then we'll be off." She said, motioning for everyone to gather themselves and follow her, "We will be back with Captain Ahab and First Mate Starbuck." Astra assured him.

-~-

The cove that the sailor had talked about was a few kilometers away from the harbor, and, surprise, it was guarded by crocodile mutations. They looked rather vicious.

"Please move aside. We have important business to attend to. If you move aside without causing too much trouble, I promise I'll repay you eventually. How does that sound?"

Tea stood next to Astra, her crystal hidden in a pocket in her Kimono. She really would rather not fighting, but of course it would not be the case. It couldn't hurt to try though. Keeping her hand on the outside of the pocket, the Fortune awaited their reply, to see if this was going to require action.

Marilyn took a look around. She was pleased that they had the targets outnumbered, but they looked fairly powerful to back themselves up. Regardless, she just smiled at the dangerous creatures and nodded her head slightly to them. She knew Tea's attempt to negotiate with the targets would end in absolute failure. The targets would have to be assassinated.

"Alright, you gators!" Michelle shouted, a hand on her hip while her other one directed a finger at them. "You either let us through or go through the worst beating of your life! And it won't be fun! For you anyway. It'll be lots of fun for us." She suddenly paused, bringing her finger back to tap her chin in thought. "Unless you're a masochist. But that would be weird. I've never met a masochist before. Wait, does this make us sadists?"

At this thought, a grin spread across Michelle's face as she giggled.

"Kneel before me!" she ordered in her best impression of a sadist. It only held for a few seconds before she burst out laughing.

Beni grinned and her book levitated in front of her. Last battle notwithstanding, being able to call forth her friend and find new ones in the tome was really fun. Maybe she'd find more as they went along.

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"We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one."

Naomi slammed her blade into the ground in front of her. The copper blade sank into the sand easily. Naomi closed her eyes and began to relax, taking control over her emotions. Outside of her body, a red aura began to flow, and when Naomi grabbed her sword, the aura flew through the blade as well. Naomi ripped her blade out of the ground, a confident look upon her face as she prepared to attack.

Marilyn didn't waste anytime. Her smile was gone in a flash...and so was her body. As usual, nothing was left standing in the spot she supposedly was just in. Typically, she would wait before setting off, but she was sure the target could not outrun her no matter where it wound up. So, she dashed forth with silent steps.

Beni toed at the sand, suddenly thinking how funny Charles would look trying to walk in it. By the looks of things, she was going to need him, but he probably wouldn't like trying to run in the sand. It'd get in the chinks of his armor and stuff. But, knowing Charles, he wouldn't complain.

Still, Beni decided she'd save him at least a little time in the sand and called her flying friend, Ritoru. He swooped down from the sky, rolling a big blue eye back at her and cooing in greeting.

_________________

"We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one."

"Alright then, let's see. . . ." Michelle put on an exaggerated version of the typical thinking face. She rubbed her chin with one hand while the other one was on her hip. "I think I'll pick. . . . . the grumpy one!" She removed her hand from her chin and literally stabbed a finger in the direction of the closest crocodile to her. All the crocodiles looked the same to her but she pretended they were different.

"Well, you're in for a world of hurt now!" she exclaimed confidently, a prideful look on her face. She quickly drew her bow and focused her eyes on the crocodile. She didn't knock an arrow back yet, using the time allotted for her to concentrate.

Tea looked up from her crystal for a second, looking directly at the crocodile mage. It seemed as if it would cause the most trouble in this battle, so it would need to be taken down first. And the sooner the better, less the party fall to whatever spell he may have up his sleeves. Looking down at her crystal, she saw him hit himself with his own staff before casting some strange magic on himself. Most strange indeed.

Gain the crocodile jumped up in front of the summoned dragon. The poor, flying creature meant nothing to the crocodile as he chomped down on it's body ferociously. Gain spat the dragon out of his mouth, not even bothering to swallow the lifeless dragon.

Alfa reacted to the magical attacks immediately, sending out her own blast of lightning at the woman who assaulted her. Alfa then cast another spell, causing a great rush of water to cascade down upon the woman. Now that the woman was completely soaked, it wouldn't take long before she was put out of her misery with another lightning spell. Alfa didn't even notice that Marilyn was closing in upon her.

Tiny moves to F-7

Tiny uses Snap Snap Snap on Naomi! 13 Atk DMG! 3 hits!

Tiny walked forward, snapping at Naomi. It didn't do as much as it had done to the poor summoned dragon, but Naomi scowled and ripped her arm away from the beast in anger.

Astra sighed. The battle had just started and they already lost one of Benicia's summons. Astra turned towards the crocodile mutation that had attacked Ritoru and flicked her wrist at it. Almost immediately spheres of dark energy shot out and pounded against the crocodile's thick scales, piercing through their defense and assaulting the psyche.

Naomi, after fending off the crocodile's attack, grabbed her copper sword and began slashing away at the beast, dealing blow after heavy blow to the crocodile's thick scales. Her strokes were actually powerful enough to rip through the crocodile's scales and draw blood, something Naomi could feel proud of.

Tea was overjoyed that the female crocodile had been immobilized by her own attack on herself. But, the electrical attack had not been very fun, nor had the hardened ball of water that had soaked her thoroughly. Sopping wet, she moved away from the action, not wishing to take another electrical attack that could and most likely would ultimately finish her off.

Michelle released a gasp of shock at the sight of one of the crocodiles chomping through the little dragon Beni had summoned. She stared with horrified blue eyes for what seemed like minutes to her, her mouth moving but no sound coming out. After a while, she broke out of her shock and thrust a finger at the crocodile.

"You! You meanie!" she shouted furiously, raging. "You horrible, horrible, overgrown, sorry excuse for a reptile! I should hang you up by your toes to the nearest tree and use you for target practice! And! I will aim for every. Single. One. Of. Your. Precious. Spots! You hear me! When I get to you, I'm going to skin you alive! And use your skin to make me a new vest! You hear me?! And I'll LAUGH! Laugh in in delight at your PAIN!"

Finished with her tirade, she huffed and knocked back an arrow, aiming at the crocodile she had been targeting before. Once they were done with this, she was going to pick up the meanie crocodile's dead corpse and start swinging it into a wall.

She was next to the unsuspecting target. The croc was so blissfully unaware of any danger that could be lurking right next to it. Marilyn took a moment to savor the pain that was coming. She appeared. Her blade struck fast and hard, piercing right through the bottom of the croc's jaw with Marilyn pushing forcefully upwards until the tip of the blade cut through the croc's tongue. At that point, she ripped out the blade and hid the bloody thing in her sleeve again.

Beni simply stood, shocked at the horrible thing she'd seen. As Ritoru's body hit the ground, it disappeared in a flash of gold light. Beni wanted to cry for her friend, but there wasn't any time for that at the moment. The summoner moved closer to Michelle, who was screaming mean things at the even meaner crocodile, and closed her eyes. "Charles, help me please!" A similar flash as before and the tiny knight was at her side, shaking his head as if he'd seen what'd happened.

Benicia summons Charles [-5 MP, 2/2 SP]! Charles appears at F-2!

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"We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one."